By your side
by PerfectDreamer
Summary: Leon saved the president's daughter, Ashley, successfully. They are finally back home, but their lives will never be the same again. The agent will face the greatest danger ever since Raccoon City. Destiny is not on their side. LxA.
1. Back Home

Well here it is, finally, I've been trying to start this project for a long time now, and here's the first chapter.  
This is a translation from Spanish to English from the story: "Aqui Estoy" by author: Yui Yui Uchiha. I translated the whole chapter and added some of my style and a bit of dialogue with her permission.

I've read all the chapters of the story so far and thought it was excellent, that's why I asked her if I could translate it so more people could enjoy it and she agreed.  
So I hope you like it as much as I did. If I get enough reviews I will continue translating the chapters she already wrote.

This is a LeonxAshley story so if you dislike the pairing, don't read. There will be other couples later on.

_'thoughts'  
_"dialogue"

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Resident Evil or any of its characters, Capcom owns them.

* * *

The wind softly stroked her pale face, her exhaustion caused by several restless, sleepless nights had finally started to affect her, she had just barely came out of the horror she experienced in the tenebrous European island.

A slight shake woke her from her sleep, she noticed she was still in the middle of the ocean, but at that moment it didn't mattered to her, because she was finally free.

She was safe from those deadly possessed cultists, safe from the parasite that threatened to take over her body, safe from any danger, because she was close to him and she knew nothing would happen when she was with her hero.

Being by his side made her happy and it showed in her pale face.

She smiled slightly, her arms surrounding her hero's waist, she tightened her hold on him and laid her forehead on his strong, well-built back, she then closed her eyes once again, being able to smell his cologne, even after everything he went through.

"Is something wrong?" He asked in a loud yet kind tone of voice.

"I'm just tired." She whispered softly with her eyes still closed.

"That's normal, but don't worry Ashley, you'll be home soon." He said softly while he accelerated the Jet Ski.

She then realized that she would soon arrive home, be back to her normal life in a couple of weeks after the shock of her nightmare is mostly gone, or most likely controlled, and then she would probably lose contact with her hero, agent Leon S. Kennedy.

"Could we… make a stop?" She asked shyly, knowing her question wasn't prudent at that moment.

"Huh?" The agent was confused by her question and turned his head slightly to look at Ashley.

"A stop? I thought you were anxious to go home." He asked puzzled by her sudden behavior.

"It's just that I'm very tired, and dirty. I don't want my parents to find me looking feculent. Besides the press will be on us, I can't present myself in front of the cameras looking like… this."

The president's daughter said while feeling disgusting in the moderately torn, stinky clothes she had worn for a couple of days.

"So you were kidnapped, and almost became a slave to an infected psychotic cult leader, yet you still care about what the media says about you?" Leon said in an unbelieving and sarcastic tone of voice while he shook his head in disapproval.

"You don't understand." She said sadly while she lowered her sight and pressed her face tightly against Leon's broad back, holding him even tighter.

She somehow already knew he wouldn't understand what she actually wanted, or what she feared at the moment. He didn't felt the same way she felt right now, and he was oblivious to her mixed feelings.

"Nope, I don't get it. Still we can't stop anywhere right now, I have to take you to your father."

"But, Leon!"

"My mission is to take you safely to your father, if we deviated from the path and took more time than needed, the whole U.S. Army would be hunting my ass." Leon said and smirked making sure Ashley saw him.

"Come on, let's stop in a hotel, I'll call my dad from there and tell him I'm fine, that we just stopped to get cleaned up." She said persuasively, hoping he would at least consider her petition.

"Your father is tired of waiting for you to arrive." Leon said in a matter of fact way.

Her effort was of no use, nothing would change Leon's mind, apparently he followed the rules as strict as they were. Of course Ashley also wanted to be home, she missed being in the land where she was welcomed, where she understood the language perfectly, where people cared for her and no one was hunting her or trying to enslave her. She missed her family, her friends, her safety, and her freedom.

Yet despite her longing for her country, she wished the trip back home could be less hasty and more adequate. Being with Leon, by his side, without anyone trying to murder him or kidnap her, was Ashley's most recent dream.

'_How is it possible that I fell for you in such a short amount of time?' _The blonde young woman asked herself in her mind while her hold on Leon grew tighter, trying to be as close to him as possible while she still could.

Then the answer appeared in her mind. After she was kidnapped and injected with an unknown repulsive plague that slowly consumed her, she was thrown into a prison, trapped alone in the cold darkness, unable to recognize how long she had been there, deprived from her warm loving home. With no hope of being freed, she slowly started giving up with life and resorted to desperation.

Then a miracle occurred, out of nowhere this strong, bold man came to her rescue.

He saved her from her misery, gave her strength when she needed it the most, stayed by her side when no one else was, even when the situation worsened, he remained brave and fought any monster that tried to lay a finger on her. He risked his life more than once just to save her.

'_But, those were his orders… it was his duty, he gets paid to do this… he did it for my father.' _The young woman thought sadly. She lamented her thoughts, since she Leon didn't show any other interest in her than that of her being his mission subject.

An awkward silence remained since none of them knew exactly what to say now.

Then Leon got a call from Hunnigan via his video transmitter. He fully stopped the Jet Ski to be able to attend the call.

"Hey Hunnigan is that you?" Leon asked while looking at the women in the screen of the device.

"Finally, I can communicate with you." Ingrid said through the transmitter.

"Hey Hunnigan, no glasses…" Leon said in a flirty tone of voice, while slightly smirking.

"Forget about that, what's the status of the mission?" Ingrid said in her formal tone of voice, seemingly unaffected by Leon's tone.

"I've rescued the subject, we're returning home."

'_Subject. Not Ashley, not Ms. Graham, nothing but the subject…' _The young blonde woman thought getting her hopes of him showing affection for her be almost nonexistent.

"You did it Leon!" Hunnigan said while smiling, she was glad the mission was a success.

"Thanks." Leon said smiling too. "You know you're kinda cute without those glasses." He continued flirting. "Give me your number when I get back?" He asked with confidence.

Ingrid couldn't help but smile and blush slightly at Leon's advances.  
"May I remind you that you're still on duty, sir." She said as professional as she could at the moment.

"Heh." The agent smirked at her comment.

"We are aware of your location, you will find land in a couple more minutes the way you're going, once you get there a chopper will be waiting for you."

"Got it."

"Good then, I'll call you in a few minutes to see if you arrived to land safely."

"Always worried about me huh." The government agent said in a playful manner.

"Leon focus on the mission."

"So, when will you congratulate me for this success?" Leon said ignoring her previous comment, and continued hitting on her.

"Your mission is not over yet, agent." She said trying to sound annoyed at his unprofessional behavior, yet she wondered if he was actually seriously hitting on her or if he was just playing, trying to be funny as usual.

Ashley couldn't help but feel even more depressed, it seemed as if Leon was trying to torture her too like those possessed cultists did, even if he didn't mean to hurt her in any way.

"Well, maybe after I return home, we could go out and celebrate for my victory." He smirked seductively.

"You are a lost cause, Leon." The woman said, she was visibly blushing, so she ended the conversation.

"I think that was a yes, don't you think so Ashley?" He asked innocently turning around to see the blonde woman.

She looked depressed, tired, and simply not in the mood to talk further.

"Let's just go." She whispered bluntly, her head turned to the side so Leon couldn't see her face or the tears forming in her eyes.

Leon was slightly surprised by the woman's sudden change of humor.

"Alright, let's go then." He said in a calm tone of voice, not wanting to disturb her or negatively affect her mood, he didn't asked about what changed in her the last couple of minutes.

He put the transmitter away and got back to driving the Jet Ski as fast as he could,

After 5 minutes of awkward silence Leon spoke again.

"So, how do you feel?"

The young woman didn't answer, she just held him tighter to let him know she was awake.

"Why are you holding me so tightly?" He asked curiously, not that he was bothered by her touch.

She again didn't answer and remained with her eyes closed.

"If you're afraid you might fall to the water, don't worry, I won't let that happen… again."

He said jokingly trying to light up the humor.

When he still got no answer, he slowed the Jet Ski down and turned his face around to look at the president's daughter who still held on to him.

"What's the matter, sweetheart?" He asked with slight showing concern in his voice.

Ashley felt better with him showing actual concern for her, she loved the way he calls her sweetheart, she didn't know if he called other women those types of names when he forgot their real names, but she didn't think about that in the moment, she was just glad he was with her and nobody else right now.

She looked up into his blue eyes, her own eyes lit up at the beautiful sight.

"Are you alright?..." He asked confused.

"…Yeah, I'm fine." She said in a low tone of voice, looking down to avoid Leon's gaze.

"Really?"

"Yes. Really." She said without emotion, trying to make him stop questioning her.

"Ok then. If you need to say something, just tell me, don't be shy." The elite agent said while he again accelerated the Jet Ski resuming his way towards their destination point.

'_There's millions of things I wish I could tell you right now, but… I just can't… it's obvious you don't feel the same way… you never will…' _The beautiful lady thought while again she felt something hurt inside her, not in a physical way. She again laid her head against his back and inhaled his signature scent, knowing she had fallen so hard like she never had before, and she couldn't help it.

After 15 more minutes Leon finally spotted land, when they arrived, everything was total chaos, an specialized platoon had put up a perimeter so no one unauthorized could get close to the president's daughter, soldiers were guarding the area making sure it was safe, several special agents escorted the young woman towards the helicopter, Leon was walking besides Ashley, they both boarded the same helicopter and flew their way towards the White House.

"It's impressive how many agents and soldiers welcomed us here, but when there was real danger no one came to our aid." Leon commented and took a look at Ashley, she just kept looking through the window, so Leon opted to not talk to her at the moment.

After a couple of hours, they finally arrived at their destination. They got off the helicopter guided by the same agents. After walking for some time guarded by the agents, Leon froze at the view before him, Ashley noticed this so she stopped walking and looked at Leon.

"Clare?" Leon asked softly while tilting his head.

"Claire?" Ashley repeated the name Leon just said with a curious tone in her voice, she looked towards where Leon was looking at and noticed the red haired woman.

"What the-"Before Leon could finish his sentence Claire hugged him tightly, Leon didn't move.

Meanwhile Ashley walked faster towards her father after watching that scene, she had no idea who that woman was, but she knew Leon and that woman did knew each other really well.

* * *

Well there it is. The first chapter. I hope you enjoyed reading it. :)  
If you did please review so I continue writing.  
If you didn't like it please review and tell me what you didn't like so I can improve on it and maybe I can inform the original author about it too.

By the way, this is the first time I translate something, to say the least it was pretty easy, since Spanish is my main language I had almost no trouble.

Also I will update my other RE fic soon, its just that I haven't made up my mind about what happens in the next chapter.

Anyways. **REVIEW!** Please. :3


	2. The Invitation

Well, I got more reviews than I expected, and that's good, makes me want to update faster than I would. Thank you for taking your time to read and review this fic, it means a lot to me, and the original author is glad too that this fic is getting this kind of attention. :)

I will try to upload a new chapter at least twice a month, that's fast for me but I'm sure I can do it, of course your reviews help a lot too in motivating me.

Anyways hope you enjoy this new chapter, I know the last was a cliffhanger, ha, but that's how the original author ended it.

Also I will do what she does, and answer to some of the reviews, I will answer some of your questions/comments.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Resident Evil or any of its characters, they all belong to Capcom.

* * *

"Claire, what are you doing here?" Asked the agent surprised by his close friend's presence.

"My brother told me about you mission… " Claire said. "What were you thinking! You went on a suicide mission, by yourself." She expressed her feelings, obviously caring for the agent and his safety.

"Yeah, it wasn't a big deal, actually." Leon said with a cool attitude, making it seem like if his suicidal mission was nothing out of the ordinary for him. "Besides, we've been in a worse situation, and we made it out alive." He continued.

"That was different! Those were zombies, they had no intelligence and were really slow, unlike the enemies you faced, they were intelligent and faster. Weren't they?"

"Well, not that intelligent." He said smirking lightly. "You know I can take on anything they throw at me." The government agent said with confidence in his voice.

"You, just never change, do you?" She asked mad at how careless her friend was being at the moment.

"Come on Claire, I'm alive, that's all that matters."

"I was just, worried about you…" The woman red haired woman said looking at Leon, her eyes and her tone of voice expressed how much he cared for the agent.

"I know." He said, giving her a small smile. "Thank you." The agent continued while he put both his hands on the woman's shoulders.

"I'm glad you're here." He said sweetly while looking into her eyes.

Claire blushed lightly and smiled at no one but Leon, still not looking away from his blue eyes.

"Agent Kennedy!" Out of nowhere a loud manly voice called for him, interrupting him of his thoughts and completely ruining the moment.

Leon turned his face away from Claire to look towards where the familiar voice came from, and let go of the beautiful red haired woman to give all his attention to the president of the United States.

"Mr. President?" He walked towards the president and noticed the look Ashley was giving him, she seemed annoyed.

"I can't describe how grateful I am, I trusted you with the most important thing in my life, and you didn't disappoint me. You completed the mission successfully, with excellence, and returned my love safe back to me. Thank you, son. Now I will pay you for all you have done, if you check your bank account, you will see the pay I promised and an extra bonus for doing a perfect job."

"Furthermore, I want to talk to you privately in my office, I have an offer I know you won't refuse." The president said with grace and gratefulness, the tall white man was extremely happy now that his only daughter was back in his arms, and that there was no obvious sign of unhealthiness, neither physically nor mentally.

He was glad he sent Agent Kennedy for this special mission, he knew Kennedy was his best and probably his only choice if he wanted the mission to be a success.

"Thank you, sir. I appreciate it." Leon said while shaking the president's hand firmly and showing him full respect.

"I also pride myself in completing this mission, but if it wasn't for your daughter here, I may have not made it." The agent commented while taking a look at Ashley.

The president's daughter noticed Leon was looking at her so she slightly turned her head around to not let him look at her face directly, she was still somewhat pissed off by his earlier actions.

"I'm glad my girl could help you out."

"Dad, I'm 20 now. Remember that." Ashley said slightly annoyed, she always had to remind her parents she was not a kid anymore.

The president laughed lightly and shook his head, he then looked at Leon and spoke again.

"Mr. Kennedy, I want you to take some time off, you deserve it. Go vacation anywhere you like, that's what the bonus is for, two weeks Kennedy, dedicate them to anything else but work, ok?"

"But didn't you want to talk to me privately?" The young man asked.

"Don't worry about that. We will take care of business after you return from your vacation."

"Well, thank you sir." He said and shook the president's hand firmly again. "If you don't need me for anything else, I'm leaving."

"We're alright right now, and remember, two weeks, don't be late agent Kennedy."

"I will be here sir."

After that Leon turned to look at Ashley and smiled tenderly at her. The young woman, moderately less annoyed now thanks to Leon's smile, she looked at the handsome man's face with an unreadable expression in her onw face and listened to what he had to say.

"Take care Ashley, you turned out to be a very intelligent, strong girl. I have no doubt you will be able to leave that horrible incident in the past and carry on with your life."

Leon tried to turn around to walk away but he stopped midway, Ashley's hand was grabbing his arm tightly.

"Please, don't leave yet…" She whispered looking at him with her full hazel eyes.

Leon turned around to face her.

"Don't worry Ashley, you're safe with your parents here, you don't need me anymore." He said reassuringly.

"But, I…." Ashley looked into his blue eyes with her own hazel eyes pleading for him to stay.

Leon placed his right hand tenderly on the young woman's head and caressed her blonde hair playfully as if he was dealing with a young girl.

"Nothing bad is gonna happen alright, now be a good girl and go back to your parents."

"Don't treat me like a little girl Leon." She said with an annoyed tone of voice.

The agent laughed softly at her answer. "We'll see each other soon, Ash." As he said that softly, he got himself out of her grip as carefully as he could and went back to Claire who was waiting for him.

Meanwhile Ashley sighed heavily, watching her hero's departing form, sadly watching how he and the red haired woman looked at each other, a look she wished Leon gave her too. Reluctantly she slowly made her way back home with her parents, she felt defeated and increasingly tired.

"Welcome home Ms. Graham!" As soon as she entered the White House a small group of domestic workers greeted the president's daughter with great cheerfulness. All of them glad she had returned and that she was safe now.

"Thank you." The blonde woman responded in a sad low tone of voice.

A tall dark brown haired man wearing a black uniform and white gloves approached the lady and spoke to her.

"Ms. Graham, I'm… I'm so sorry… it was all my fault… I-"

"No Andrew, it was not your fault. Nothing was." The young woman before him said interrupting whatever explanation the young man was going to give.

Still he continued, feeling extremely guilty for what happened to the president's daughter, even if he did not know fully what exactly happened to her, the nightmare she went through was unknown to him and everyone else, except for the President, his wife, and the agents involved in the mission.

"But I was the one driving, I should've… I couldn't… I didn't do anything to-"

"You couldn't prevent what happened." She interrupted his words again. "There were at least a dozen, against me, you, and a couple of bodyguards… I'm just glad they didn't kill you too…" The blonde woman said while lowering her head, her voice demonstrated how bad she felt for those who died trying to protect her.

The tall man was silent, he still felt moderately depressed for the kidnapping that took place a week ago, and the death of the bodyguards he knew from quite some time. He looked at Ashley in the eyes, he could tell she felt highly emotional. The last thing he wanted was to see her cry, all because he couldn't do anything to save her.

Ashley broke the silence and looked at the young man's face, she then brought her left hand up to the scar decorating the man's left cheek. She gently traced the young man's scar with her soft hand, she could feel the wound was still profound, not totally healed.

"You got hurt…" She said, her face was filled with guilt, her eyes looked tired and stressed, her mouth was dry; in all she didn't look well at the moment.

"That doesn't matter…you could've died." The uniformed man said, still feeling the warmth of Ashley's hand on his face.

"Same with you, Andrew." The young woman said while removing her hand from Andrew's face.

"None of this was your fault. Now please, stop blaming yourself." With that she started walking away slowly.

Andrew grabbed her arm gently in order to make her listen.

"But, Ms. Graham-"Andrew tried desperately to speak but was again cut off.

"It's over, we're alright, and we're safe now." The blonde said trying her best to hide her own guilt and sadness, trying to sound optimistic.

Andrew just stared at Ashley, trying to read her mind, trying to understand her feelings, but he couldn't discover much.

The young woman looked at the man in the eyes and smiled. "I'm glad I could see you again." She said sweetly.

Andrew felt himself warm up to her and now knew she needed some rest, he gave her a small smile and nodded while letting go of her arm. Still the chauffeur was surprised by how the president's daughter was taking the situation. He watched her go to the dinning room were the president and his wife were waiting for her.

The large luxurious table was filled with a variety of food, everything looked delicious, but the president's daughter was not hungry at that moment.

Both the president and his wife were already in their respective seats, waiting for Ashley to take hers so they could start eating.

"You must be hungry dear, I made sure the chef cooked your favorites." Said Carol, Ashley's mother.

"I'm not hungry right now mom. Could I please go to my room? I need to rest." Ashley said, her head was lowered, she started feeling tears in her hazel eyes.

The married couple gave a worried look at Ashley and the state she was in, then they looked at each other and thought it was probably the best for their daughter.

"Go ahead, dear. Get some rest." Her mother said.

"I must remind you honey, strict security has been enforced, we are all under surveillance. Right now there's two specialized guards outside your room."

"Even more strict?" She muttered.

"We can't let our guard down, honey." The president said, apparently hearing his daughter.

"Alright…" The young woman started to leave the dinning room slowly but suddenly stopped.

"Andrew…he will still be my chauffeur...right?" The blonde asked getting worried about her friend and his fate.

Ashley's parents didn't speak for a moment. Mr. Graham sighed and answered her daughter's doubt.

"It would be adequate for someone more, specialized, to take care of that job, Ashley."

"No way dad, Andrew has to keep his job. He had nothing to do with the kidnapping."

"Actually, this was one of the topics I was about to mention. "

"I don't want anyone else dad, don't take his job."

"Ashley, understand, this is solely for your safety."

"I told you, it was not his fault, don't blame him for anything." Ashley said, now mad at her father and the decision he was making of firing her friend.

"I am sorry honey, this time I can't comply." The president said.

The young blonde woman mad at her parents and their decision quickly walked away from the dinning room and went directly to her bedroom. She noticed the two man standing near the door to her bedroom, they were both very tall and apparently muscular, yet they seemed like they didn't even noticed her or just ignored it.

'_Ugh, more emotionless guards._' She thought while she opened the door and slammed it shut, making sure her parents heard her and how mad she was.

* * *

"Claire, do you have any plans for the next 2 weeks?" The agent asked while smirking slightly at the red haired woman.

"What do you mean Leon?" She asked, smiling at him.

"How about we take a vacation?"

"What do you have in mind?"

"Hawaii."

"Really? You want to go to a beach filled with people right after you came back from a suicidal mission?" She asked incredulously at the man's energy.

"That's right."

Claire closed her eyes and shook her head slightly, she then looked at Leon, she knew he was being serious, and that he wouldn't take a no for an answer.

"I don't know Leon… I don't think my brother would like the idea of me and you going to Hawaii, alone." Claire said truthfully, her older brother was still very protective of her.

"Chris will understand, we're pals, I'll call him right now." Leon said while taking out his touchscreen cellphone.

"What? No!" The redhead exclaimed trying to take the man's phone away. "Are you out of your mind? If Chris knows about this he will hunt you down."

"Heh, fine then." Leon said. "I won't call him." He put his phone away. "He doesn't have to know."

"Let's escape on an adventure of our own." Leon said while giving the redhead a sexy smirk.

Claire sighed loudly. "…Alright. Just let me go home and get some stuff ready." She said.

"Ok, I'll get the tickets and the hotel reservations."

"Has anyone told you you're crazy, Leon?" The red haired woman asked playfully.

"It's one of my attractive aspects, don't you think?" He said flirtingly.

The redhead just smiled and shook her head, unbelieving of how Leon took some things very lightly.

"Alright then, I'll pick you up later." The agent said, then he placed his right hand on the woman's chin and kissed her softly on her left cheek, yet somewhat close to her lips. Claire blushed slightly the agent then let go, noticed her blush and smiled, he then turned to walk away to the black car that was waiting for him.

The red haired lady softly touched the place where Leon's lips had been while she watched him walk away.

'_Two weeks alone with Leon… I just can't believe this._' She thought. '_My brother, what will I tell him? I guess I'll have to make an excuse… even if I hate lying to him._' She then remembered her older brother, her only family left, she hated lying to him, but she knew a small lie wouldn't hurt him much, she too needed to get away from the city. Besides it's not like she was going to get in trouble or anything, she was an adult independent woman able to make her own choices.

* * *

Well that's it! I hope you enjoyed the read.

So what do you think? Do you like the newly introduced Andrew? Do you like the fact that Claire and Leon will be going to a vacation together? Please tell me whatever you think in your reviews.

I do appreciate criticism too, but no flaming couples please.

Also I know this looks more like a ClairexLeon fanfic, but, oh well, you'll see what happens later on. Don't want to ruin anything for those of you who haven't read the other chapters in Spanish.

**Reviewers:**

_**Damarquis Collins:**_ Don't worry, there's many more chapter to come, and I'm sure the original author will finish the story and I will translate it.

_**NocturneKnight: **_OMG, yes I know, Leon was such a jerk there, flirting with Ingrid while Ashley was all heartbroken at him rejecting her. (I don't believe she was offering sex btw) Still I think he was just playing and didn't mean he was actually interested in Hunnigan.

_**sal8497: **_Nope, I won't. Hopefully I'll update two chapters per month. That's as fast as I can.


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